


Truly Heartless

by ninecupcakes



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamtale, Alternate Universe - Inktale, Betrayal, Gen, Horrortale (mentioned), Light Angst, Mentioned violence and blood, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-18
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2019-01-19 04:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12403065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninecupcakes/pseuds/ninecupcakes
Summary: For the first time in what felt like forever, he was actually angry. Really angry, and he dismissed how strange it was to feel that way around someone he had known for so long, or anyone that had been friendly to him for that matter. It was strange to feel that way in general, but he couldn’t help it and he knew perfectly well what the reasons for his change of character were.He felt so…Betrayed.





	Truly Heartless

**Author's Note:**

> This has nothing to do with my Blind Art series. I just found out that this is a comic, not published at that, and I decided to write a sad little oneshot for it. ^-^
> 
> Since this was made by Joku and Comyet approved of it, this is pretty much 100% canon (which kinda killed me inside o3o)

For the first time in what felt like forever, he was actually angry. _Really_ angry, and he dismissed how strange it was to feel that way around someone he had known for so long, or anyone that had been friendly to him for that matter. It was strange to feel that way in general, but he couldn’t help it and he knew perfectly well what the reasons for his change of character were.

He felt so…

_Betrayed._

When Ink told him he was off to a pretty interesting place, he had never expected him to like that kind of thing. He had told him not to follow him to that universe as cheerfully as he was, but Dream dismissed his all-too faint warning. How could he have known the sickening surprise he was in for? Ink was so cheery and carefree all the time, and the way he worded it, ‘one of the most intriguing and somewhat entertaining universes out there’, made him think he was going somewhere along the lines of Candytale and the whole warning thing was because he thought he would faint from all the cuteness.

Oh, innocent him.

That so-called intriguing, interesting and entertaining place was no other world than Horrortale; and it was as terrible as it sounded, but Dream had no idea where it was they were going at the time and had no time to complain about calling such universe anything similar to entertaining.

It was _dark._

It was _bloody_.

It was _cold._

And what they saw there was a human, poor, innocent, and so, _so_ frightened, being burned alive on a grill by starving monsters of shapes and sizes that would make even his own brother shiver, and eventually taken from their voracious hands by the Sans and Papyrus from that universe; and speaking of saving, that Sans, so twisted and bloody and _terrifying_ , was laughing at the pitiful human like they weren’t bleeding and their skin wasn’t hissing against the cold snow beneath them.

Dream had frozen at the scene.

And Ink? Ink had a lopsided smile as he watched, as though he was casually enjoying a horror movie with some rainbow popcorn he’d made up.

It killed him inside to see it all. Dream hadn’t even been able to bring himself to do anything about it even if every part of him was urging him to rush in and help that saddening human girl; he felt like he was going to pass out and be sick for the rest of his life. Not only because he had witnessed something only the worst of night terrors could have ever shown someone, but because Ink, his _friend_ , his _partner_ , who knew how frail he was, gave him no real warning about what he would see and smiled throughout what would make anyone with a heart drown in tears of dread.

Only someone soulless, or Nightmare with those thousands of corrupted souls he had, would smile at such horror.

Ink smiled at it too.

But… he laughed at what was funny, he admired what was pretty, he fought against those destroying the beauty of the multiverse…! Dream had been a witness of all of it, because he had been right by his side when all of that happened. Ink couldn't possibly be soulless.

Or was he…? He had never been able to read his emotions after all, like he was trying to hide them all the time…

The creator followed him in confusion when he rushed out of that horrid universe at the speed of light, unable to keep looking at such suffering, and found Dream breathing heavily like he had just run up a mountain without pause.

He still had that goofy smile on when he patted his back. Reassuring him, telling him that it was all normal, that nobody was going to die; Ink walked past him like he had just done a good deed, but he found himself rather impressed when his friend _yanked_ on his arm and stopped him from strutting away.

“Hey, calm down!” Ink stumbled back, rather surprised at the indignant pull on his arm. Dream was _glaring_ at him, bow in hand, and he looked truthfully menacing for once. It was only then when Ink ceased smiling, but it was mostly out of utter confusion.

“What were you _doing_ , Ink?” the skeleton clad in golden stressed, talking the same way he spoke to those not worthy of his reassuring side; not a threatening tone, but a heavily scolding and disappointed one. It wasn’t like Dream was capable of hating someone, and his anger, when needed, only went as far, but it was the first time Ink ever saw him mad at anything since the day they met and that left him rather awed. 

That was the reason why Ink was unable to take him seriously at first, especially because he knew he had done nothing wrong as far as his standards went. “What do you mean?” he shrugged, pulling another smile; a way too innocent one. “I didn’t do anything.”

His utter obliviousness felt like a punch to Dream. A straight, shameless punch that he didn’t take lightly at all, and he straightened his pose as his eyes narrowed further. Ink was a full-on prankster, he knew that – but he also knew that what he was saying didn’t sound like one of his childish pranks. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed, tone strangely glum. “There was bloodshed in that universe, and you didn’t do _anything!_ You- you were even _smiling!”_

His heart, or his soul, at least, felt heavy and bitter as he let his inner discontent go. It had been a while since he hadn’t spoken that seriously with someone, but he still retained that deeply hurt spark – that deeply hurt spark that Ink completely ignored with an innocent blink.

Truthfully, the creator was beginning to deem the whole situation as a completely pointless argument and an absurd exaggeration. He had been going to Horrortale, and worse and better places for that matter, for _years_. Nobody had ever told him he couldn’t, and nobody would. Heck, even Error sometimes let go of whatever nonsensical excuse he pulled to mess with some random universe's code just to watch whatever had to happen with him – or with him, but twenty feet away from him.

He huffed without understanding where Dream’s stern tone had come from and where he was going with it. “And that’s supposed to be a crime? What did you want me to do?” He questioned if Dream was even thinking it through. Since they were at it, they could also burst into some other random universe without notice and make a party right then and there; it meant disrupting a universe near the point of no return, and he was _not_ going to do that, because _that_ was a crime. He couldn’t just go straight ahead and take the human to Sugartale or something. Things were meant to go one way and one way only, and he wasn’t the one to change the rules.

Dream was taken aback by his remark, eyes completely wide. He wished he was deaf, because even if he refused to believe those words, he had heard them all and they were buzzing in his head like merciless echoes. He felt even more inner pain when Ink shot him a stern glance, like a disappointed mentor. Was he hearing himself…? Was he aware of how much he was hurting him by telling him that enjoying someone’s suffering wasn’t a crime…?

Ink sighed, “Don’t you know you mustn’t interfere with a universe’s story?”

And that was the last straw; Dream could easily compare the utter dread he was feeling at the coldness of his so-called friend’s words to being shot back by his own arrows, pierced straight through his unadulterated soul. It was a horrible psychological pain he had never thought someone like Ink would ever make him feel.

He felt so impotent.

So belittled.

So _betrayed._

He was so absolutely shocked that he took a trembling step back; he felt like he was going to faint again, and he wanted that feeling to _stop._ “B-but that human… those _people_ were suffering… It’s not _fair…_ It’s not fair for anybody to be in pain just because of a story…!”

He felt them. Tears. Deeply hurt tears of gold threatening to create waterfalls out of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

But he realized he was nearly being brought to tears by his _friend_ …

It was just… so _painful… unfair..._

And Ink still had the audacity to huff as he turned around, looking at him sideways with an expression that showed anything but regret, or shame, or realization. Ink was sure of what he was saying, and Dream would have never thought someone as apparently sweet and cheerful would remind him of cruel beings such as Error, or even his brother.

“That’s how the creator wants it to be, and that’s how things will stay. Whatever happens to the inhabitants is not a problem as long as the storyline is not altered.”

From the core of Dream's soul, betrayal shot all throughout his body with such outstanding strength that he felt completely numb. He wanted to push those heartless words away, but they surrounded him like vicious fleas. Those words, uttered by someone he had called his best friend, someone he had _admired_ , were rotten, impure, something only someone without a soul would even dare to say.

Perhaps Ink wasn’t _hiding_ those feelings. Perhaps it was a fact that he didn't  _have_ them.

But Dream couldn’t afford to care about his ridiculous reasoning over the ordeal. Soul or not, common sense or not, he wasn’t going to just let someone that crazy wander around the multiverse without a care.

He felt something strange, but powerful. It went beyond anger, but it wasn’t hatred. He could only describe it as pain. The ache such a shameless treachery left behind.

And that same pain manifested in a bright blue glow that illuminated his body as he summoned an arrow and aimed at a certainly unimpressed Ink. “And what about when we teamed up?! You- you’re a _danger_ to the timelines!” He tensed his bow, but he couldn’t bring himself to shoot. Ink was too easy of a target given that he didn’t feel threatened enough to move or even back off, and he risked killing him.

“Whatever, I’ll forget this soon and you should too.” Ink concluded dismissively, though not apologetically, but Dream didn’t lower his weapon and if anything he seemed closer to shooting than before.

“I trusted you!” he shrieked, voice breaking as a single tear broke his spiteful façade, but Ink ignored it. He still didn’t take his bluff as a real threat, and narrowed his eyes in defiance as he crossed his arms.

“Are you gonna shoot me?”

Silence.

Dream took a quivering breath in, and lowered his weapon as slowly and silently as he exhaled; his arms were trembling as they dropped to his sides in defeat, and his eyes closed. He didn’t know what he had been thinking, what took over him. He could have _killed_ someone... But treachery just hurt _so much…_

His eyes, painted a reassuring gold but beaming distress and sadness and regret, fluttered open. “N-no… I don’t… hurt others…”

“Figures.” Ink sighed silently as he turned to fully look at Dream. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t been a little afraid; surely Dream was a little cheery ball of sunshine, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t running around carrying a weapon that could very well be lethal. He never expected he could go to the extent of _threatening_ him with it.

He extended his hand, “Anyway, let’s just go and–“

_“No.”_

He was somewhat taken aback when Dream pulled himself away from him, looking down so he wouldn’t have to face his eyes of mismatched pupils. "I… I don’t want to be with someone like you anymore… W-what you’re doing is wrong… You’re… You’re _bad_ , Ink…”

He sniveled, trying his hardest not to burst into tears but faltering helplessly. He didn’t even bother giving Ink a sideways glance to see if he was in any way moved by how cruelly he had manipulated his emotions – he knew he wouldn’t care less about how he felt. “You should know that there are people out there who believe in you. And you… you don't care about them… Because they aren’t real, right? Because- because they’re creations made to entertain...”

A single tear rolled down his cheekbone, and through closed eyes he couldn’t see Ink looking at him with pity. Not regret or self-realization. Just pity, like he was some wounded animal. A hand reached out for his shoulder, “Oh, come on, you just need to-“

Dream whirled around and disappeared from sight as soon as contact was made, leaving the creator alone with his thoughts.

Surrounded by complete silence, his eyes narrowed pensively as he slowly took one of his vials only to contemplate it like a child would look at a toy. A faint, green glow illuminated his hand.

Sometimes, too much kindness could be bad.

Some other times, too little of it could be fatal.

**Author's Note:**

> This is as far as the comic goes. I don't know what happened before and after the dialogue; the Horrortale scene was made up since the comic doesn't show what universe they were in before the argument or what exactly happened in it, and it doesn't show how this ends either. Joku mentioned that these two had "a pretty big fight" on her Tumblr, but I don't know if by fight she meant the argument or an actual fight.
> 
> Either way, we don't exactly need much more than this. Welp, enjoy your daily dose of feels. ^-^
> 
> Also, fun fact: what happened in Horrortale is actually canon and can be found in chapters 40 and 41 of the DeviantART comic. Just beware of lots of blood and gore if you decide to take a look. :')


End file.
